Emerge: helping immigrant entrepreneurs

Emerge, the EU-funded project to help immigrant enterpreneurs in Ireland, made the following recommendations on how best to encourage innovation among new arrivals to the country:

Mobilise state agencies: The Department of Enterprise,Trade and Employment should lead an information campaign across all government agencies and offer outreach activities aimed at drawing ethnic minority entrepreneurs towards available supports.

Support stepping stone networks

Networks of ethnic minority entrepreneurs should be established to promote exchange of experience and information and act as a platform for entrepreneurs to engage with mainstream business networks through joint events.

Promote ethnic entrepreneurship

A national campaign should be undertaken to ensure that members of immigrant communities are encouraged to consider self-employment and are made aware of support.

Review the availability of micro-finance in Ireland

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment should undertake an in-depth review of the availability of micro-finance to start-up entrepreneurs in Ireland.

Deliver targeted pre-enterprise training and mentoring

The Emerge pre-enterprise programme should be mainstreamed and programmes should be of a longer duration than typical Start-Your-Own-

Business courses and should offer mentoring in parallel with training provision.

Revisit business permission regulations

Emerge believes that the current regulations are excessively burdensome and that the quality of the business proposal presented by an individual should be the key factor in determining whether or not business permission is granted. It also encourages government to ensure that different agencies and departments apply the relevant rules in a uniform manner.